David Mark Joseph Morrissey (born 21 June 1964) is an English actor and filmmaker. Noted for the meticulous preparation and research he undertakes for each role, he has been described by the British Film Institute as one of the most versatile English actors of his generation.
Morrissey made his screen acting debut in the drama series One Summer (1983) at the age of 18, and subsequently receiving training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art before performing with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre for four years. Standing 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) tall with an easily identifiable voice, he was often typecast as authority figures such as policemen and soldiers throughout the 1990s, breaking this trend with his roles as Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend (1998) and Christopher Finzi in Hilary and Jackie (1998). He then appeared in Some Voices (2000) and Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001) before playing the critically acclaimed roles of Stephen Collins in State of Play (2003) and Gordon Brown in The Deal (2003). The former earned him a Best Actor nomination at the British Academy Television Awards, while the latter won him a Best Actor award from the Royal Television Society. He also played Jackson Lake, a man suffering from amnesia who believed he was The Doctor, on the Doctor Who special "The Next Doctor" (2008).
In the years following those films, Morrissey had roles in The Reaping (2007), Sense and Sensibility (2008), Red Riding (2009), Nowhere Boy (2009), Centurion (2010) and Dampyr (2022). He also produced and starred in the crime drama Thorne (2010). Morrissey returned to the stage in 2008 for a run of Neil LaBute's In a Dark Dark House and played the title role in the Liverpool Everyman's production of Macbeth in 2011. He also starred in the British crime film Blitz (2011), playing a morally dubious reporter in contact with the eponymous cop killer. He later portrayed The Governor in the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of the AMC horror-drama series The Walking Dead (2012–2015).
Morrissey has directed short films and the television dramas Sweet Revenge (2001) and Passer By (2004). His feature-length directorial debut, Don't Worry About Me, premiered at the 2009 London Film Festival and was broadcast on BBC television in 2010. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Edge Hill University in 2016.
Early life
David Mark Joseph Morrissey was born in the Kensington area of Liverpool on 21 June 1964, the son of Littlewoods employee Joan and cobbler Joe Morrissey. He has two older brothers named Tony and Paul, and an older sister named Karen. The family lived at 45 Seldon Street in Kensington. Decades later, as part of National Museums Liverpool's Eight Hundred Lives project, Morrissey wrote that the house had been in his family since at least 1900. His grandmother had been married there and his mother was born there. In 1971, the family moved to a larger and more modern house on the new estates at Knotty Ash, while Seldon Street was later demolished.
Morrissey was greatly interested in film, television, and Gene Kelly musicals as a child. He decided to become an actor after seeing a broadcast of Kes on television. At St Margaret Mary's Primary School, he was encouraged by a teacher named Miss Keller, who cast him as the Scarecrow in a school production of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz when he was 11 years old. Keller left the school soon after, leaving him without encouragement. His secondary school, De La Salle School, had no drama classes and made him think that the fear of bullying often dissuaded pupils from participating in lessons. On the advice of a cousin, he joined the Everyman Youth Theatre. For the first couple of weeks, he was quite shy and did not join in with the workshops. When he eventually participated, he ended up appearing in their production of Fighting Chance, a play about the 1981 riots in Liverpool.
By the age of 14, Morrissey was one of two youth theatre members who sat on the board of the Everyman Theatre. His contemporaries included Cathy Tyson, brothers Mark and Stephen McGann, and Ian Hart, the latter being his friend since they were both five years old. He became friends with the McGann brothers and they introduced him to their brother Paul, who was on a break from his studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). When Morrissey was 15 years old, his father developed a terminal blood disorder. He was ill for some time and eventually died of a haemorrhage at the age of 54 in the family home. After leaving school at the age of 16, Morrissey joined a Wolverhampton theatre company, where he worked on sets and costumes.
